RPGs - A General Overview (4)
                       by James Judge

Amaaa-zi-i-ing Graaaaace,
How sweeeeet the sound,
Taaa ta tee tee ta tum ta-a ta!
Taa taa ta ta da ta dum dee doe daa
Daa do diddly dum doe dee!

Yes, I have come up with an RPG related topic, but I thought I'd
impress you all first with my finely tuned voice...  So, this time
I think I'll recommend a few good RPGs for the newcomers amongst
us. We all have our favourites, and so this list of "must play's"
will probably be biased towards game which I, personally, like and
have enjoyed a lot over the past few years.  Also the list will be
more PC and ST based as I've never had an Amiga, so please forgive
me Amiga owners.  I'll try and mention one top game from each of
the RPG genres and then look at a couple of more general games
which will be a good intro to RPGing.

First off, the ASCII games. As I've said before these games lack
nearly everything, and most are dated now. The latest one I've
seen is Ragnarok for the PC and this is, actually, very good.
I've reviewed it in full, but basically you play a Viking warrior
who must help out his Gods by completing a number of tasks.  The
ASCII characters have been substituted for some pretty nice
graphics and there are enough little extras and bonuses (ie the
way you can change shape, gender and class as well as the huge
number of artefacts scattered around in the game) to keep you
interested. There is a definite flow and story to the game as
well as a number of distinctly different areas which you can
explore. They are all generated randomly so, if you want, you
could play this more than once. For the PC this is probably top
of the pile.

For the other machines I don't know. Nethack! sounds pretty good
(it's the follow up to Hack!) with extra graphics. I think the
Amiga owners can get it from SynTax on disk 392 (as their Hack!
is an improved graphical ST version), PC owners on disk 290 and
for ST owners get disk 127. There is a far superior version on the
Falcon too, so if you've got one of these machines look out for it
in an ST/Falcon only PD library.

If you want to check out one of the original ASCII variants get
the original Hack! or, better still, Moria. Moria is pretty
detailed and very big and difficult. There are huge amounts of kit
to fiddle with and a good thing is that they don't always benefit
you - you can create new monsters, heal them and do other wicked
things to yourself. This still doesn't help much in the
playability stakes, but if you do like pure dungeon delving that
takes very little brain power, this may be just for you. It's
available on the ST, but Sue doesn't seem to have a copy. I got
one but it was severely bugged, so I don't know whether that's a
platform-wide problem, a version problem or there were just a few
incompatibilities with my STe. Anyway, look out for it in other
PD libraries, it's sure to be about somewhere. PC owners can get
it on disk 516 and Amiga peeps on disk 377.

There are no commercial games of this type, unless you want to go
back to the Spectrum where there were a couple.

The reverse is true for isometric games - I can't think of any
shareware equivalents apart from something like Mystic Towers
from Apogee on the PC (but this is more of a platform game than
an RPG).

On the commercial side, though, we have a small selection from
Heimdall 1 (for all platforms) and 2 (for the Amiga and PC),
Legend (all platforms), World Of Legend (PC only), Cadaver and
The Payoff (all platforms) and Ultima 8: Pagan (PC only). There
may be others, but these are the main selection.

The best out of the lot is probably Pagan, so if you have a PC go
get it. I haven't played it yet, but I hope to some time in the
future. It follows on from the other Ultima games but has a
completely reworked graphical and spell system as well as being
more combat orientated. If you can get the hang of the control
system you should find the game enjoyable to play as well as
pretty in depth (well, that's what the glossies and friends
say...).

For a platform spanner there can be no better than Legend. It is a
really good game and should keep everyone happy. If you've played
Bloodwych you'll enjoy the chance to get away from the doings of
the Entity and battle a different villain, as well as getting out
of the dungeon now and again. There are plenty of spatial
problems to keep you going and there are a few riddles and spell
orientated problems thrown in for good measure. Sometimes the
fighting does get a bit intense, but you can easily overlook this
small point after a while. A good point in the game is the
flexibility of the spell system (it's my favourite one I've come
across so far). The graphics are nice, the sound is good and the
gameplay is nearly spot on. Recommended.

I'll now move onto the full 3D affairs as the step-3D games are
many and there is no overall winner in my books.

My favourite at the moment is Betrayal at Krondor (which I'm now
2/3 of the way through - with only two pieces of help from
Mongoose!) which ties beautifully into my favourite set of books
of all time. But, due to the average graphics and sound and the
fact that you don't keep the same characters through the 9
chapters of the game, this may not suit all.

For a more traditional 3D RPG go for one of the Ultima
Underworlds. Two is by far the better (and isn't as bugged as
number one) but only PC owners can get hold of this beauty. The
graphics are great, the sound is atmospheric, character
interaction is top-notch and the puzzles are fiendishly difficult
(come now, it's had Mongoose, Alex Van K and I all stuck in it,
so there must be something in its favour). Also it runs on most
PCs.

For ST and Amiga owners I don't really know, especially with
Amigas. The ST has only three full 3D games which I can think of.
Corporation (sci-fi bash that's OK for a while but soon drags),
Robinson's Requiem (large and little to do apart from keep
yourself alive and fighting. Few puzzles but a good idea. Also the
graphics aren't all that good) and Legends Of Valour (probably the
best, but is still large and suffers from that empty feeling). I
think that the ST owners should keep to the ordinary first person
step-3D stuff as the ST can handle these competently and well.

And that brings us to the largest category of them all, the
step-3D RPG.

It's really difficult to choose a ruler for this genre as there
are literally hundreds of the suckers, and they cater for so many
needs. If you enjoy mapping and fighting then go for Captive, if
you want a large world that seems to actually work and in which
you take a pivotal role in its outcome go for Wizardry 7 (PC
owners only, though). If you prefer a traditional dungeon delve
then you've got a whole myriad of games from the old Dungeon
Master and Bloodwych (all three platforms) to the newer
Knightmare (all three) and the Eye of the Beholder series (PC and
Amiga).

Personally I love Captive and at the moment I'm trying to map the
first two missions and provide a full guide for the first 22
bases. It's varied and enthralling. True, there are no real
puzzles - it's more of an explore-athon-come-fight-athon which (in
a way) harks back to the ASCII variety <shudder>. If the PC owners
want a more magical game then try Dungeon Hack which is more of
the same but with wizards, warriors and nasty sticky things that
crawl around dungeons. It has a whole set of options that allow
you to control the amount of monsters you face as well as the
traps, water level, food etc. etc. etc. and even boasts a
real-life option which means that as soon as your character dies
all your saved games are wiped for that character (luckily this
option is optional (?!?).

Also there's Knightmare by the same guy, Tony Crowther. This is a
far more puzzle based game based on the old kids' TV show of the
same name. The graphics are good, the puzzles are fiendish and the
learning curve is steep.

Another good game is Wizardry 7 which is huge and difficult, but
unfortunately this is PC only. PC owners can also frolic with
another large 3D saga in the shape of the Might and Magic series.
It really picks up with M&M3 and when you install M&M4 and 5
together on your HDD you get one huge game where you can skip from
one half to the other at will. Sounds good.

The largest series which spans all three platforms is the Ishar
quartet. Starting with Crystals Of Arborea (easy, boring and
limited - completed in four hours) it goes onto Ishar (better,
more open and is more of an RPG. But, on the ST it's horribly
slow but the graphics and sound are good, also pretty empty) then
Ishar 2 (my favourite. While being 6 times as big as Ishar the
graphics and sounds are slightly better, it's faster, there's far
more to do and there's a definite plot unfolding which is good
fun to follow) and finally Ishar 3 (haven't played this one, but
it's meant to be better than the first and second but not as good
the third). They're pretty good if you can stand the slowness (I
wouldn't imagine that it would be as noticeable on the Amiga or
present on the PC) and Ishar 2 is by far the best one to play.

For a more traditional game there is the Eye Of The Beholder
series (all available on the PC and parts one and two (I think)
on the Amiga). For me these were too easy. I've only played part
of the first two games, but I found myself powering through them
at a rate of knots - especially number one.

So, that about brings my recommendations to an end. Just a couple
of recommendations for the new player...

If you have a PC try and get hold of Lands Of Lore. I suffered an
incompatibility problem with my PC, but this seems to be an
isolated incident. From what I've seen, heard and from what
Mongoose and Sue have told me this is a really good game in its
own right, but also eases a new player gently into the art of
RPGing apart from the last two sections. The graphics and sound
are good and if you have a CD-ROM you can get the CD which is the
talkie version (King Richard's voice being played by Patrick
Steward, he of Jean Luc Picard fame).

Amiga and PC owners may like to get the first Eye Of The Beholder
game. This is also a pretty nice game with which to get started in
and it doesn't offer too many nasty parts. Another good point is
that if you can get familiar with the combat system and spells
you'll feel at home with other SSI games from their Gold Box
collection (something for the more avid pen and paper RPGer) to
the latest Ravenloft duo: Strahd's Possession and the Stone
Prophet.

ST owners could get either Bloodwych or Dungeon Master. DM would
probably be the best because, even though I have great
reservations about the game, it is a pretty good training ground
- it was the first RPG I completed.

From the above list of three games you'll be able to teach
yourself the fundamentals of CRPGing and get used to the
'different' viewpoint. You'll each develop your own way of
fighting and managing your characters which suits your style - do
you just charge in gung-ho killing everything until you're nearly
dead and then find a corner to get better or do you, like me,
take each fight one at a time, making sure you do it well and
suffer the minimal amount of damage and then healing for the next
battle?

Next issue I'll look at some of the basic RPG tactics that can be
applied to nearly every first person RPG and give you a few
pointers on how to map properly.

Until then, happy RPGing.














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